


Dangerous & Tainted

by amyponders



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blood and Violence, F/M, Guns, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Kissing, Marvel Universe, Mild Language, Non-Graphic Violence, Power Imbalance, References to Drugs, Russian Mafia, Threats of Violence, Underage - Freeform, Underage Kissing, buckynat - Freeform, winterwidow - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 22:33:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amyponders/pseuds/amyponders
Summary: Seventeen year old Natalia Romanova goes out one night past her curfew, only to stumble upon the Winter Soldier, the leader of a local Russian gang.





	Dangerous & Tainted

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching Civil War recently and this idea popped in my head of making an AU where the Winter Soldier is a Russian mobster and I thought Nat would be perfect for it, too. I toy around with her past a bit, in this she goes by Natalia and is a ballerina, instead of a training spy. I might add another chapter, but I'm not sure yet.

To roam the streets of Moscow at this hour was hardly safe. And Natalia knew it. It had been drilled into her head from a young age by her overzealous father. _Walk straight home after school. Don’t talk to strangers. Stick to the places you know. Carry a small knife. And no matter what you see, keep your head down low and your nose out of where it doesn’t belong._ She knew he was only trying to protect her, having witnessed what he had over the years. And she’d be lying if she said that the things she’d personally seen and heard in her years growing up in this place wouldn’t destabilize the most well-adjusted kids.

But eventually, like everything in life, you get used to it. And she wore her jadedness like a badge of honor. She liked to think that she wasn’t a coward, that she only took so much care of herself because she respected her dad’s wishes more than her own free will. Truth be told, Natalia was more scared of his temper than of anything she might encounter on the streets. Not that she’d ever go looking for trouble willingly, of course, but she always felt like her dad was exaggerating, and the type of bad guys that lurked in the underbelly of her neighborhood -the ones that had scared petty thieves and murderers out of business- still had a code of honor, and they wouldn’t mess with the little guy, unless provoked.

And so it happened that she went out past curfew, putting her coat on in a hurry and telling her papa that his condition left her with no choice. Which was true, after all. He’d only worsened during the week and out of stubbornness and pride he refused to go to a doctor, saying that if his stint in the mafia hadn’t killed him, a petty cold would not be the one to snuff him out. As she pushed against the heavy door of their apartment building, she encountered some resistance, snow was blocking the entrance and keeping it from opening fully, but by the third shove it gave in and she stepped onto the streets. She breathed in the cold air and lifted her gaze up to appreciate the snow falling from the sky in a heavy curtain, covering the slippery grey sidewalks in white majesty.

The pharmacy wasn’t that far away from their apartment, just a few couple of blocks. Somehow, she wished it’d be farther away. That would give her a chance to extend her stay outside and see how the town operated at night. She could feel the thrill of her small rebellion pulsing through her veins and making her feel more alert, more alive. She looked at the mostly desolate streets, there was a young couple making out in a store corner, the man’s hand wandering very high up her skirt and pushing in short strokes, looking for his lover’s warming heat on a cold night, Natalia guessed. Aside from them, there was only the one man smoking a cigarette as he went on. He passed her by and kept on going, not paying her the slightest attention. She put her hands inside her white coat and exhaled a long breath. Her short red hair was waving around violently. The night was truly freezing and windy, and the weather was blurring the lines between snowfall and blizzard.

After a few minutes of walking through the snow, Natalia entered the empty pharmacy, bell chimes announcing her entrance. Once there, she bought the things she needed. She consulted with the clerk and he recommended a few over the counter remedies that according to him, were sure to alleviate her father. She smiled and thanked him before putting the small bag inside her coat and walking out into the raw cold again. Her fiery red hair started fluttering against her face as it did before. Eventually, Natalia got tired of its constant rattling and she tried to readjust her fur hat, so that her hair stayed in place, but the wind dragged it away from her hands and into a puddle of grey water that had formed in an alleyway between two buildings.

Natalia heard a metallic click as she knelt to pick it up but she chalked it up to the medicine bottles stowed away on her coat. She shook the hat half-annoyed, it smelled something awful, but she decided that she had to carry it back home to wash it, dry it and keep on using it. They were short on money at the moment. If they called her back from her ballet audition saying she got the part, then she suspected she’d have money to spare, and she could both help with the bills _and_ save enough money to go away on her 18th birthday. But at the moment, throwing away her one good hat in the middle of winter wasn’t an option.

“What you got there?” A disembodied voice said.

Natalia stood up quick and looked around warily.

“Look, Mikhail, we got ourselves a pretty one.” The voice chuckled before pulling the safety off of a pistol.

She looked into the shadows pouring out from the alleyway in time to see two men stepping out side by side. One was muscular and on the taller side, and the other, while not exactly little, made up for his lack of height with his welterweight build. They had tattoos on every inch of skin from their neck down, the white wife beaters they had on barely beginning to cover them. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold at all. Natalia took a step back.

“Are you high, Ivan? She saw us.” The muscular guy, who she guessed had to be Mikhail, then, said to the tall one. “She can’t leave.”

“Fine.” Ivan rolled his eyes and threw himself on her, covering her mouth. Mikhail took off his beanie and shoved it forcefully on her face. She started kicking, so Mikhail also grabbed her by the legs and helped carry her. “Let’s see what the boss says.” She was able to make out in her state of confusion.

A short walk, a bolted door, and some downwards stairs later, Natalia fell on her hands and knees to the floor with a painful thud. The beanie came off and a lightbulb dangled above her head, blinding her momentarily. She blinked a couple of times, before her eyes adjusted to the low light in the place, it looked like a run down warehouse of some sort. There were more lights turned on around the space, not enough to make it exactly homely, but enough to make it painfully clear what type of people she’d stumbled upon.

On her right, there was a large table with guns and rifles of all sizes, pocket knives, small bags filled with what were most surely drugs, stack upon stack of paper bills and enough ammunition to kill the entirety of their neighborhood. And on her left there were at least 4 more thugs -apart from the two that had abducted her just seconds ago- sitting on a ratty sofa, smoking cigarettes, and cleaning a gun with a cloth that looked suspiciously splashed with red as the light hit it. They didn’t look stunned by her presence at all. She was starting to think, with a small amount of dread, that this was a common occurrence.

“Get up!” Mikhail said, all of a sudden hitting her on the stomach with his leg. Natalia heard a crackling sound and the next thing she felt was cold liquid running down her belly. The bottle of cough syrup she’d bought for her father had broken and taken the brunt of the kick. Not to say she hadn’t felt it, but were it not for that bottle, she was sure she would’ve actually cried out. Instead, she gave a low grunt and looked up at him defiantly.

“Don’t ever touch me again.” She warned coolly, rage bubbling in the pit of her stomach.

“Or what, you wimp?” Mikhail retorted.

“Mikhail, that’s enough.”

Natalia heard another male say. His voice rumbled through the room and stopped everyone in their tracks. Ivan took a step back and so did Mikhail. The rest of the men dropped what they were doing and stood up stealthily.

“Boss.” She heard everyone acknowledge him, one by one.

“Who is this?” The newcomer asked.

“No one.” Ivan responded. “Mikhail thought she might have seen something, so we brought her in for you to decide.”

“And did she?” The boss inquired. “See something.” He clarified and finally stepped close enough for Natalia to make out more than his outline.

The man was the tallest by far in the room and had broad shoulders that popped noticeably. Everything from his trapezii to his triceps, to his incredibly well-defined arms was nothing short of athletic perfection. As a ballerina, and after many years of busting her ass practicing and trying to attain the ideal body, she knew at least what that looked like. There was a thin layer of sweat covering him, from his forehead, to his shiny pecs and his toned stomach. He had specks of paint all around his sinewy body and his long black hair fell down on waves around his angular face. He looked as if he’d just finished a heavy workout or sparring session... but on a closer look, what she thought were specks of paint, looked more like droplets of blood. Which could only mean he’d been doing some other type of physical labor.

She trailed his left arm with her eyes and found he had an arm-long sleeve tattoo that covered it in its entirety. From this distance, it looked as if it were solid metal, a great job on the tattoo artist’s part, no doubt; the red star of the Communist party was emblazoned high up near his shoulder. Natalia noticed he also had a sub-machine gun attached to his back through leather straps, as well as several knives and distinct pistols on holsters spread throughout his thighs and legs. He had an imposing air about him and it had to do with the way he carried himself: with shoulders squared, lilting voice, slow deliberate movements and a predatory gaze of which she’d only just taken notice, as his steely blue eyes were gleaming and inspecting her in return, almost amused. Natalia swallowed hard and tried to scramble up from her knees.

“We- we don’t know yet. We haven’t had time to question her-”

“First you tell me you ‘thought she saw something’... and then you say you ‘don’t know’. At this point, I might have to end up killing you two for your ineptitude.” The boss said in a relaxed voice, as if someone had just asked him for his opinion on takeout food.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the other men by the sofa tense up.

“But then again, I’d have to order someone to scrape your brains off the ceiling. And I’m sure _they_ won’t appreciate that.” He put his hands inside his black jeans’ pockets and gestured with his entire body towards the sofa. “It’s almost Christmas and I have to be considerate.” The boss chuckled in a genuinely upbeat manner.

“So, how about you explain to me what they think you saw… Yes, I’m talking to you, sweetheart.” The boss added when he saw Natalia’s expression of confusion.

“I was just- I was just passing by the alley because the wind dropped my hat, when these two fucking assholes-” She stopped and exhaled and then continued: “-when _they_ came out and blindfolded me. I didn’t see anything until they brought me here.” Natalia answered sincerely. She knew she probably shouldn’t have called them names. Her heart was racing already, but she wasn’t about to let these men strip her of her dignity. And if insulting them was the last thing she ever got to do before dying or being raped, at least it would be something.

The boss chuckled again. “You hear that? Her hat fell.” He looked at the soaked hat on her hand. “And _you_ just brought her here without genuine reason. Gentlemen, is that what we do now?”

“Are we supposed to believe her?” Mikhail shot.

“I’m sorry, are you questioning me?” The boss walked up to him and smiled warmly. He put his hands on his shoulders, in a movement that was supposed to denote affection between friends, but in this case wouldn’t look friendly, even to the most untrained of eyes.

“N-no boss. But I don’t trust her.”

“What was I supposed to have seen, anyway? It was dark as shit in that alleyway!” Natalia retorted. Her survival instinct, or rather, her father, was telling her to shut up and keep her head down. But her fighting instinct told her to not go down easy.

“Man, I told you she was pretty and you just wanted to fuck her.” Ivan spat at Mikhail, annoyed. “She didn’t see anything.”

“I know that’s what he wants. It’s what he always wants. But you’re not off the hook either, Ivan. So keep your mouth shut.”

Ivan lowered his eyes and scowled.

“If I say she saw nothing, then she didn’t. Right, sweetie?” He addressed Natalia directly.

She hesitated at first, but ended up nodding.

“What’s your name, anyway?”

She swallowed before answering. “N-Natalia.”

“Natalia. I’m James. People around here call me the Winter Soldier. No idea where that came from.” He chuckled, a hint of irony in his voice. He extended his palm to her and she shook it, more afraid of what he’d do if she didn’t take it, than what he could do to her if she did.

“What were you doing out this late at night?” He inquired further.

“My father… he is sick and I was buying him some medicine.” Natalia put her hands inside her coat and took out the broken bottle of cough syrup along with the other pills and remedies. The thick red substance stuck to her hand, as did a small piece of glass that sliced her finger open. She winced and brought it closer for inspection, but James intercepted her hand and after staring into her hazel eyes for a few seconds, took the piece of glass out carefully and brought the tip of her finger up to his mouth, where he sucked on it. His tongue flicked over it and he smiled at her once, before turning to his henchmen. She was feeling lightheaded and wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly why. Was it because of the situation she was in, the amount of weaponry and paraphernalia around her, James’ shameless flirting, or the tension in the air? If she had to guess, it was because of everything, all at once.

“You two, go to the pharmacy and buy her everything you just broke. And after the girl leaves, I’m gonna do something to you that you won’t like.” James took out a knife from his thigh and started flipping it in the air distractedly.

Ivan and Mikhail looked at each other, but instead of protesting, they took the wiser way out and headed for the door.

“Now, while we wait for them to come back, I thought we might discuss something, Natalia.” James moved a step closer to her and put both his hands behind her neck and made soothing circular movements with the tips of his fingers. “While I’m sure you wouldn’t dare lie to us about what you saw or rather _didn’t_ see, you still need to understand something, gorgeous.”

“...Which is?” Natalia was almost afraid of asking, or rather, of hearing his answer.

“I’m running a business here. And there are some people, important people, mostly cops and politicians, who don’t want to see me succeed. But you can be an important part of my puzzle if you help me out. I need you to swear to me on your father’s life that you won’t tell anyone about this little exchange.” James kept caressing her neck and her curly hair, while his icy blue eyes pierced her like daggers.

Natalia nodded.

“Attagirl.” James whispered and leaned in, towering over her and closing the small distance between their bodies.

He hovered centimeters away from her mouth, his breath tickling her lips for a few heartbeats, before diving in and kissing her. He was surprisingly gentle, at least at first, while he toyed with her full lips in between his, as if she were a ripe fruit ready to be eaten. As soon as James felt her mouth move underneath his, however, his pace increased and his movements got bolder. It wasn’t long before she parted her lips to moan lowly, his dexterity making her come apart under his kiss. He used that as his opportunity to sneak in his tongue and succeeded in driving her crazy.

Natalia wasn’t exactly a saint, in spite of what her father liked to think. She’d had plenty of sexual experience in between her two ex-boyfriends. But nothing she’d ever done or received came even close to how it felt to make out with a dangerous man like that in front of his gang. The thrill of not knowing every second whether he was about to graze her neck or maybe snap it made every cell in her body light up and send electrifying currents through her. Natalia pressed herself against him, feeling the urgency in his jeans like a cocked revolver. Her body was demanding to be touched too, but he withdrew suddenly, leaving her equal parts embarrassed, annoyed and aroused.

Her chest heaved for a moment, before she normalized her breathing and told him as deliberately as she could: “I’ll keep your little secret, James.” Natalia started. “But in exchange, I want something.”

“And what would that be?” He cocked his head to the side and grinned. “You are one tough customer, sweetheart.”

Her thoughts flew back to the couple she’d seen earlier on the street. Blood rushed to her face and she smirked: “I have an idea.”

 


End file.
